Global thinking emphasised

Press, 30 July 1986, Page 50

Global thinking emphasised

PA Wellington The importance of global thinking in New Zealand’s export marketing strategy was emphasised in Dunedin by Mr G. P. Shlrtcliffe, chairman of the newly-formed Market Development Board.

He told a breakfast meeting of business people that the sooner traditional thinking was replaced by a wider perspective the sooner better results would come.

He said the board was determined to bring about change by developing new strategies in association with business groups and making the information readily available. “We are here to provide service, leadership and creativity,” he said. “We want the board to be motion-oriented. We want to start things, not stop them, and surely that divorces us from bureaucracy.”

Mr Shlrtcliffe said many people questioned the formation of yet another quango — a quasiautonomous Government organisation.

“We are not a quango,” he said. “We are a .tango — a totally

Government organisation.”

He said the board would work from the three-fold proposition common in any business deal — ideas, markets, money.

“A vital part of our work,” he said, “will be to get a better interface between marketing and technology.” There were encouraging signs of this, but there needed to be a flood of ideas.

Mr Shirtcliffe said vacillation within the meat industry illustrated a classic New Zealand weakness.

“They spend a lot of time bickering among themselves,” he said. “What they need to do is to turn around and get on with finding new strategies.”

He said the board would look at ways to improve marketing research which, he said, was inadequate at present.

Also on the board’s agenda was an investigation into the adequacy of New Zealand’s data-base. It was possible the board might develop a data-base and earn some income in this way.